1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface texture measurement device, especially a portable surface texture measurement device.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a surface texture measurement device has been known to measure surface texture, such as surface roughness and surface shape of a work piece (see Related Art 1, for example). The device traces a surface of the work piece with a stylus that is in contact with the surface of the work piece, displaces the stylus in a direction intersecting with a tracing direction according to the surface texture of the work piece, and measures the surface texture of the work piece based on a displacement amount of the stylus.
The surface texture measurement device can switch between performing a measurement of micro-unevenness (surface roughness) and a wide range measurement such as a measurement of undulation or a contour of the surface of the work piece. Further, the surface texture measurement device can perform and display tallying or statistical processing of measured data. Especially, the small surface texture measurement device shown in Related Art 1 is integrally provided with various functions described above and is thus able to perform the various measurements in a single unit. Taking advantage of its portability, such a small surface texture measurement device is carried to and used for measurement at various sites.
When the small surface texture measurement device having multiple functions is used, consideration must be given to displayability and operability with respect to a user operating the device. For instance, in the surface texture measurement device, due to the small size, a display size in a main body is restricted and an amount of information displayable at once is thus limited. Thus, a user interface using an abbreviated word or an icon is often employed. However, since such a surface texture measurement device has multiple functions, a wide variety of content is displayed, which results in a great number of similar abbreviated words and icons. Accordingly, even an experienced user may have difficulty in identifying the abbreviated words and icons, and an inexperienced user or a user who seldom operates the device may not be able to understand the abbreviated words or icons.
An operation manual may be referred to in order to assist with identification of such abbreviated words and icons. For the case of the small surface texture measurement device that is carried to a measurement site, however, even a simple field manual may be difficult for the user to carry together with the device or to refer to during a measurement, resulting in lowered work efficiency.
In order to address such a circumstance, a function that displays descriptions on a screen, that is, a guidance screen or a help screen, is known. In Related Art 2, a help button corresponding to each parameter is arranged on a display condition setting screen of a particle size distribution measurement device, and a screen of descriptive text (guidance) for the corresponding parameter is displayed when the button is operated.
A technology in Related Art 3 provides a help key as one of a plurality of operation keys in an electronic device such as a label printer used at a shop, displays a “list of guidance” on a display when the help key is operated, and then displays guidance for each function on the screen when an “unclear operation key” item is selected from the list. A technology in Related Art 4 provides a help key as one of a plurality of operation keys in an electronic device such as a copier or a facsimile machine, displays a “first help screen” (list display screen) in a display when the help key is operated, and displays a “second help screen” for each function (such as a guidance screen for document size selection) when a desired item is selected from the list.    Related Art 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-169616    Related Art 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-194702    Related Art 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H10-226142    Related Art 4: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-223236
As described above, a help function or a guidance function that displays operation instructions on a screen are technologies known in Related Arts 2 to 4. However, the technologies of Related Arts 2 to 4 are each applied to a stationary device that has ample space in a display screen, and cannot be fully accommodated in a small display screen in a small device such as in Related Art 1. For example, although a help button is provided for each function in Related Art 2, there is not enough space in the small display screen to accommodate a large number of buttons having similar functions.
Further, in Related Arts 3 and 4, similar to a help function used in a personal computer and the like, guidance for each item is displayed through a guidance menu screen (the list of guidance, the first help screen, or the like) that displays a list of guidance items. Accordingly, one operation is not enough to lead to the desired guidance, and thus the technology is difficult to employ from a viewpoint of work efficiency. In particular, to display the guidance menu screen having a large number of items on the small display screen in Related Art 1, switching between a plurality of pages may be required even for the guidance menu screen only.